Tuesday, November 08, 2005

The mix

I'm heading out for a date again tonight. (Same woman.) But I'm doing a "mix" post because I don't want Elaine to get nasty e-mails.

1) From Democracy Now!

Supreme Court To Rule on Guantanamo Military TribunalsThe U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it will decide whether the Bush administration can use military tribunals to try detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay. In July a three-judge federal appeals court upheld that a tribunal made up entirely of military officials could try and sentence Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemini man accused of being Osama Bin Laden's bodyguard and driver. On Monday Chief Justice John Roberts recused himself from the case since he was one of the appeals court judges who previously ruled on the case.

"The Only Thing We Have to Hide Is the Ugly Truth"Move along now and don't ask any questions.That man over there, we're shipping him in Poland. Shut up or you'll be joining him and, trust us, you don't want to join him. Ten fingers aren't essential but they complete a set and you don't want to risk losing any of yours.Okay, a little urine got on your Holy book but trust us, it must have come through the air ducts. Urinals can fill up quickly and when you're bladder's 'bout to bust, you improvise.Some call them stress positions, we prefer to see them as isometric excercises.Your family and friends? Think of all the time you've been spared hearing them recount their daily activities. Trust us, you're better off here.You miss them? Well you can thank three years of being locked away in Gitmo for making you appreciate your loved ones. Think of all the people who don't have the luxury to appreciate their loved ones.We've done you a favor. We are America, home of the brave, land of the free. We walk it like it we talk it, buddy!Or do we?Congress members set to visit Guantanmo Bay will not visit unless they can speak to prisoners. The answer, right now, is no. Does the Bully Boy think Congress can't be trusted? Does he think they'll smuggle in box cutters to the prisoners?Now the UN has delcared it's December 6th visit is off unless they can speak to guards and, this is always the deal breaker for the administration, prisoner.What exactly is the administration hiding?The hunger strikes are known. The force feedings are becoming known.If you were held for three years with no charges brought and no right to a court trial, what lengths would you go to?What is the government hiding?Is it something far worse than the photos of Abu Ghraib?Could it have anything to do with being in a similar position to the one they're in with Jose Padilla? Having staked their reputation on the guilt of those held, they're now trying to save face by refusing to allow anyone contact with the people being held? Has the administration that never knows how to admit they're wrong decided to bury yet another mistake?For three years now the American public has largely given the administration the benefit of the doubt with regards to those held in Guantanamo Bay. Bully Boy and others called them terrorists, the media (and a large portion of the public) ran with that. Assurances were also made that they were being dealt with fairly and that we were taking measures to ensure that hearings would be held (military tribunals).It's been three years.What's the plan now?We don't appear too concerned about how we look to other nations, are we at all concerned about how we'll look to future generations?Who wants to explain what gave us the right to detain indefinately to future generations? Who wants to answer the "Well how did you know they were guilty of anything?" question?When Japanese Americans were interned during WWII it was a stain on the country. It went against everything we are supposed to stand for.What American principals are being upheld with regards to the Guantanamo detainees?It's not American soil!" the administration argues -- as if Americans are only bound to the laws and rules of this country when they're on American soul. Jenna Bush goes into a hash bar in Amesterdam next week and twenty years later runs for office do you really think the "I didn't break a law because it's not illegal in Amsterdam!" defense will cut it?We're supposed to treasure the Constitution and uphold it but the Bully Boy wants to argue that our beliefs only apply when we're on American soil. Patriotism confined to the shorelines apparently.All that the administration is doing, they're doing in our names. After 9/11, the American public seemed willing to bury their heads in the sand and, like Congress, give the administration a blank check.Are we all still wetting our beds at night and sucking our thumbs twenty-four seven or have we started to grow up a little? Enough to ask, "What the hell is going on?"We need to be asking that. It's easy for the Bully Boy to dismiss questions of historical judgements with the reply that he'll be dead by then but historical judgements don't always take centuries. And if indeed he believes in a "higher authority," is he not concerned what will happen should he have to account for his behavior?How will you account for yours if you continue to remain silent?

3) From Democracy Now!

Chalabi Heads Back to D.C.; No Investigation Yet on Iran Spy ChargesThe Wall Street Journal reports 17 months have passed the Bush administration announced a full criminal inquiry into allegations that Iraqi exile Ahmad Chalabi leaked U.S. intelligence secrets to Iran. Since then FBI hasn't even interviewed Chalabi or any U.S. official connected to the matter. Chalabi is arriving in Washington today for his first official visit in two years. He is planning on speaking at the American Enterprise Institute on Wednesday and will be meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary John Snow.

A question I sometimes get from visitors is "Aren't you too hard on Dexter Filkins?" No. I'm obviously not hard enough on him judging by the stenography in today's paper: "Chalabi, in Tehran, Meets With Iranian President Before Traveling to U.S. Next Week."He goes to great length to quote Chalibli and makes little effort to inform readers of certain realities. Such as the Times acting as a megaphone for Chalibli's point of view. Dexter's not unaware that a niece of Chalabli was working for the Times in Iraq. But that's left out as is any harsh reality that might intrued on, "I will be back!" and the talk of how he might, MIGHT, be doing a little mission in Iran for the US government. There's no indication made of any attempts to determine the veracity of Chalibli's claims, they're just quickly rushed into print.

We'll note the passing of C. Delores Tucker. From Douglas Martin's "C. DeLores Tucker, a Voice for Minorities and Women, Is Dead at 78:"When she was 16, Mrs. Tucker raised her voice from the back of a flatbed truck to protest a Philadelphia hotel's refusal to admit black athletes. She went on to become the highest-ranking black woman in any state government when she served as secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the 1970's.She started the first Commission on the Status of Women in Pennsylvania and helped found and led the National Political Congress of Black Women. She held leadership positions in the Democratic Party, the National Women's Caucus and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, among many other organizations.Mrs. Tucker achieved perhaps her greatest fame in the 1990's when she campaigned against gangsta rap lyrics, calling them "sleazy, pornographic smut." At one point, she bought 20 shares of Time-Warner stock and rose at an annual meeting to demand the company's leaders read aloud the lyrics on records one of their subsidiaries was selling. They declined.

That's going to be it. It's a mix because I've got a date. I already visited Three Cool Old Guys and I'll write about that (or try to) on Thursday.